Potato & Mushroom Poisoning

If you study the botanical origin of potato, you would find that it belongs to the group of plants, the stems and leaves of which contain toxic agents termed as solanines. The botanical name of potato is Solanum tuberosum and it belongs to the family Solanaceae. Solanines are known to cause poisoning in cattle eating the potato plant. The tuber (potato) itself also contains small amounts of poisonous material called solanines in its peels. You must have seen that storage of potatoes leads to greening and sprouting. Both these processes lead to the production of poisonous material around the 'sprouting eyes' and also inside the flesh of potatoes. Sprouting and green potatoes taste bitter due to the presence of solanines and should not be consumed. Sometimes, people who are unaware of the poisonous nature of green and sprouting potatoes; eat these and develop poisoning symptoms. The onset of potato poisoning symptoms occurs some 4 to 12 hours after its consumption. The abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea are predominant symptoms of potato poisoning. Mild headache and fever have also been reported in some cases. Severe potato poisoning may also lead to a state of coma.

Be cautious while eating potato products. The treatment of potato poisoning is always symptomatic; loss of fluids and electrolytes have to be replaced orally with oral rehydration powder dissolved in water or intravenously in cases of severe dehydration. Use of antibiotics should be avoided in known cases of potato poisoning. An average general practitioner may miss the diagnosis of potato poisoning and pass of the case as a common case of 'gastroenteritis'. The potato poisoning may be severe form of food poisoning in students eating midday meal from the common kitchen at schools, as the kitchen staff generally overlook the quality of potatoes received by them.

Mushroom poisoning is also presented with abdominal pain, vomiting and profuse diarrhoea after latent phase of around 12 hours or more. Severe mushroom poisoning may also lead to liver and kidney failure within 3 to 4 days after the development of vomiting and diarrhoea. Some of the mushrooms, e.g. Amanita phalloides are so poisonous that consumption of one mushroom is sufficient to cause severe poisoning and three mushrooms could be considered a fetal dose. With the cultivation of mushrooms being taken up by the trained personals, the cases of mushroom poisoning have come down. Only those who collect and eat wild mushrooms fall prey to mushroom poisoning due to lack of knowledge about the identifying features of poisonous mushrooms. Knowledge is the key to care and maintenance of health. Never eat green or sprouting potatoes and wild mushrooms to save yourselves from potato poisoning or mushroom poisoning.